Harmonizing Corrido and Union Song at the Ludlow Massacre

Abstract

In Ludlow, Colorado, on April 20, 1914, anti-union state militia and hired gunmen opened fire on a colony of miners and their families. After a ten-hour assault with machine guns, dynamite, fire, and kerosene, over twenty people died and many more were wounded. The most publicized atrocity was the death of two women and eleven children who took refuge in a ground cellar only to suffocate and burn to death in what became known as the infamous Black Hole. The Ludlow Massacre became a catalyst for pro-labor movements across the nation as well as a subject of much debate by lawmakers, historians, labor activists, and writers such as Meridel LeSueur, Upton Sinclair, Zeese Papanikolas, and even George S. McGovern. More recently, the site of the Ludlow Massacre has been the focus of annual archaeological digs as scholars endeavor to find more details surrounding the history of this significant labor conflict. Each discovery and rendition of the massacre adds greater understanding to the history of the people, times, and events of the Colorado Coal Strike, but many stories remain to be told. Throughout his lifetime Elias Baca (1895-1998) sang the history of the massacre by synthesizing corrido and union song forms. Taking a corrido form widely used for protest by Mexicans and Mexican Americans and combining it with union song elements, Baca created his own discourse to broadcast and comment on the massacre. Looking at the historical and social contexts surrounding Baca's corrido and at the formulas and customs of both Mexican American balladry and union song allows for several conclusions: First, Hispano and Mexican American culture had a distinct and vocal presence in the Colorado Coal Strike as well as in other mining conflicts throughout the intermountain West. Second, Baca used his corrido to rally Spanish-speaking union miners and to emphasize the unity and power of the union, making Baca's corrido one of the earliest pro-union corridos recorded, if not the earliest. Third, Baca's adaptations and additions to traditional border corrido forms and union songs create a new corrido form as well as a new social identity for its performers. Representing the culture and history of a working-class people who had little access to other forms of expression, Baca's song is a discourse that is critical for understanding the larger history of the massacre, specifically how members of unique ethnic groups worked together to fight capitalist corruption and oppression. HISTORICAL CONTEXT The Ludlow Massacre occurred after a long and disillusioning strike. Before the 14 month-long strike, the Colorado state government ruled that mine operators must give miners eight-hour days, an elected check-weighman, the right to patronize any business or doctor, and the right to organize. When none of these rulings were enforced, on September 23, 1913, an estimated thirteen thousand miners went on strike against the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, leaving only 7 percent of the workers in the mines (Powell 1985:101). Tension rose rapidly in southern Colorado mining districts. This strike had a double impact since it also left Colorado Fuel & Iron Company's steel mill without coal, giving the strikers much needed national attention. Even Mother Jones, dear to miners and dreaded by operators around the country, trekked to Colorado and fought for the workers' demands that had been met only with unfair wages, abusive foremen, and horrendous hours and living conditions. Mother Jones was arrested and banned from Colorado four times, but she persisted. Ten days after one of her arrests on January 22, 1914, women and children led a march down the streets of Trinidad to the hospital where Mother Jones was detained. General John Chase feared a riot and went on a rampage after them, instigating what was known as "The Mother Jones Riot." Negotiations between the union, operators, and militia were complicated and futile. Even union leaders had disagreements, and the government officials and militia members had lost their integrity. …